corgikelly

I've never posted on this board, but I'm just back in Brussels from a long weekend visiting a friend in DC and thought I'd share my thoughts. Visits with this friend, no matter on which side of the Atlantic they occur, are dedicated to the pursuit of GOOD FOOD -- usually we cook ourselves, but this time we decided to go for restaurants instead. There's some good eating in DC... Obelisk I've just done a search and found paeans of praise for this place on the board, so I won't belabour the point. It was really quite good (especially when converting from dollars to euros!), and lived up to its reputation, even though I'd pestered my friend to bring me to Palena instead. Antipasti included burrata (good, but not the Platonic ideal), sardines in saor (very good), fried squash blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies (excellent), porchetta (good) and crab cakes with roasted beets and parsley sauce (cakes were a trifle mushy but sauce and beets were wonderful). Primi piatti: divine eggplant ravioli with pine nuts and a less successful, because overly salty, tagliolini with sea urchin. In both, the quality of the pasta itself shone through. Mains: seared duck breast with rapini (both absolutely excellent) and rockfish with tomatoes, olives and tomatoes (also spot on). Cheeses: three chevres, including a soft Italian, a hard Italian and a semi-aged US. Desserts: cocoa nib panna cotta (sent my friend into an ecstatic reverie; I hate chocolate so I took his word for it) and a trio of sorbets -- cantaloupe, watermelon and blackberry (compared favourably to Berthillon's best). Oyamel Living in Belgium, I crave both low-brow and upscale Mexican...Frontera Grill is my benchmark for the latter, and there were some moments when Oyamel came close. On others, it fell short. Started with a taste of my friend's Oyamel margarita - loved the "salt air" but would have appreciated it being colder. I can understand not diluting, but in that case, bring a dish of ice to nestle the glass in) and the tableside guacamole (okay, not transporting, but I was very impressed by the flavour of the avocados themselves). Then shifted to antoijtos, including seared scallops with pumpkinseed sauce (excellent), short ribs with pipian verde (nicely flavoured, but not as meltingly tender as you'd hope for), papas al mole (ick. didn't get the point), rice with huitlacoche (no corn fungus flavour whatsoever) and chilaquiles (also excellent, with a lovely zip from the salsa verde). I would have loved to try the ceviches, as they looked delectable going by, but raw fish not on for a pregnant woman. Alas. 2Amys Nice little pizza place. We sat at the bar and ate salt cod croquettes (meh), rapini (loved the zing of the red pepper flakes but the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar masked too much of the yummy bitterness), oven-roasted olives (I hereby swear to never serve another olive unless it's been through the oven) and marcona almonds with fennel seed (an inspired combination), then split a pizza with eggplant confit, olives, capers and grana padano. Yum. The Diner Had a craving for buttermilk pancakes one morning, and this place in Adams-Morgan filled the need. It was a lovely morning, so I appreciated being able to sit next to the wide open windows giving onto the street. The bacon, however, was atrocious. Figs Fine Food We'd cycled out to Black Salt on Macarthur Boulevard to buy scallops and decided to grab a bite here before heading back. My turkey club on foccacia with pesto mayonnaise hit the spot, and my friend's Lebanese platter (hummous, eggplant ratatouille, stuffed grape leaves and labneh) was also very good. A pleasant serendipitous find!

I spent a few days in the eastern Loire doing some cycling and wanted to share some thoughts on three of the meals I had, as it doesn't seem to be an area that gets much eG chatter. L'Auberge du Chateau (Talcy) This was the only restaurant within a 10km bike ride of my chambre d'hote, so was an easy choice my first evening. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Paté de campagne for a starter, followed by roasted sandre (local white fish) with sorrel sauce, a tricoloured flan of cauliflower, carrot and spinach purées and some other veg I've forgotten. Crepes au sucre for dessert -- two massive ones, but sadly overcooked and muscular rather than delicate. But still, for 16 EUR? Could've done worse. Le Relais du Chateau (Beaugency) I also could have done better, and did the next night. I drove over to Beaugency, which turned out to be a rather pleasant little town, and wandered into this restaurant because I couldn't believe they were offering a four-course prix fixe for 16 EUR. When I walked out, I couldn't believe they'd offered an eminently *edible* four-course prix fix for 16 EUR. Soupe de poisson avec sa rouille was deeply flavoured and came with the classic garnishes of rye croutons and grated cheese as well as the garlicky mayonnaise. The main, paupiettes de volaille with a mustard pan sauce, sauteed spinach and carrot purée, suffered from a slightly over-salted sauce, but was still quite good. I opted for fromage blanc for the cheese course and ended with a tartelette aux quetsches (sweeter than I would have liked, but still...). Can't beat it for the price. Le Bistrot du Cuisinier (Blois) Oh, this was SUCH a nice meal! I think it's a good sign when a restaurant's lunch crowd is equal parts French hommes d'affaires and elderly couples, as both demographics generally like to eat well, with a group of six French teenagers thrown in for good measure. I started with one of the house specialties -- a soufflé chaud de crevettes, gambas poêlées, émulsion de fumet façon américaine. The texture of the soufflé was lovely, a cross between a quenelle and a flan, the gambas were nutty and toothsome and the emulsion was deeply flavoured and just plain yummy. Then moved on, at the recommendation of the friendly waiter, to suprême de pigeon rôti, spaghetti chinois et shiitakes glacés au jus, rœsti d'abats sur un pain de campagne, caramel d'épices. Wow. Just plain wow. Perfectly cooked pigeon breast with a sauce (she says modestly) very like one I thought I'd created myself -- basically a butter-mounted gastrique tinged with cardamom and clove -- but with an extra depth of flavour from the shiitake soaking liquid. With the liver-heart-kidney mush on toast, perfection! I desperately wish I'd had room for cheese or dessert, but no luck. Had a glass of very nice Cour-Cheverny (Philippe Tessier, 2004). Total damage: 28 EUR. The restaurant is actually across the river from the center of Blois, so you don't get to take advantage of sitting on one of the vieille ville's many lovely squares, but you get a nice view and a great meal. Highly recommended.

We've been to Mon Vieil Ami twice in the past few months, and it is hands down my favourite restaurant in Paris at the moment. The first time we went, we agonised over the menu choices while casting envious glances at our neighbours’ bread basket. (When ours arrived, it fully lived up to its promise – massive slabs of darkly-crusted peasant loaf with a springy, slightly tangy crumb.) G. finally settled on a starter of pâté en croute with céléri remoulade and compote d’oignons rouges, and I went for the soupe de topinambours à la noix de muscade avec gambas roties. The pâté was deeply porky, and the compote was really what every good little onion would like to be when it grows up – sweet, tangy, peppered with dried raisins that I think must have been from Champagne grapes. The soup was spectacular – earthy and nutty, with grilled shrimp whose mix of salinity and sweetness was perfectly and oddly echoed by the garnish of (radish?) sprouts. The nutmeg was a subtle, perfectly calibrated presence. The mains – I opted for scallops with endive, while G. went for the navets et fenouils en tagine, semoule aux fruits secs et Osso Buco. I told him he was insane (my dislike of Northern African cooking coming to the fore). The scallops were outstanding – as far from the previous night’s rendition (at L'Os à Moelle) as Britney Spears is from Billie Holiday. Six meaty, beautifully cooked scallops, strewn with sautéed but still crisp chiffonade of endive, bathed in an elegant mustard sauce and crowned with a slice of sautéed jambon de Bayonne. And to send me into chicon ecstasy, the scallops were accompanied by two perfectly braised-then-grilled endive halves. Salty, sweet, bitter, tangy – I despise the phrase “a symphony of tastes,” but that’s pretty much what it was, in a straightforward and utterly unpretentious way. I lived to regret my mockery of G’s choice, too – the veal shank, nestled in a mountain of couscous in a cast iron Staub cocotte, was tender enough to eat with a spoon, and the couscous and turnips were simultaneously sweet, earthy and meaty. The wine. Oh, the wine. Blessings upon our waiter, who – prompted by my request for an Alsatian pinot gris with a bit of meat on its bones – steered us toward Maurice Schoech’s 2004 Cuvée Justin from Ammerschwihr (39 €). He opened, I tasted, and he laughed out loud at the look of uncontrollable bliss on my face. Round, silky, with notes of honeysuckle and pineapple and just enough steely backbone, it went spectacularly with everything, from soup to cheese. And midway through the meal, the waiter arrived with the label affixed to a postcard, so that I could “have a souvenir.” The cheese, accompanied by a pear chutney whose only note was sweet, struck the only false note of the meal – an Alsatian chèvre was insipid, and the Comté prompted me to offer G. a taste and say, “Do you see the difference between this and the Platonic ideal of 36-month aged Comté we tasted at Bathelemy yesterday? Do you? Harrumph.” Only the St-Nectaire was worth finishing. G’s dessert was good, he said – salade de fruits frais with mango sorbet and a crisp, not-sweet waffle. We were splurging and ordering off the more expensive menu (41 € and worth every penny), but one can only assume that the lunch plats du jour are prepared with the same care and passion – which would make any of them, at 15 €, one of the city’s great gastronomic bargains. Our second visit, in June, was as good as we'd hoped. Started with cold pea soup with roasted gambas, flavored with nutmeg and enlivened with a few grains of popped corn (for an inspired echo of the sweet nuttiness of the shrimp) for me and a gorgeous mijotée of all kinds of vegetables in a succulent broth, topped with a bruschetta of piperade and anchovies, for G. Then filet de sandre with lovely potatoes and artichokes, flavoured with rosemary and a bit of young sage, for me and YUMMY lamb with turnips and chickpeas for G. I kept dunking bits of bread (from Eric Kayser -- the best I've ever had in a restaurant) into the jus in G's terrine. Finished with cheese for me (okay but not transcendent) and a gorgeous strawberry-rhubarb crumble for G. Fruit desserts are definitely the way to go here (though the baba au rhum at the table next to us looked awfully good). Drank the same Pinot Gris we did last time. Still love it.

In the past month or so, we've been to Le Fruit Defendu, Mamy Louise and -- largely because of paulbrussels' contagious excitement about the place -- Le Fourneau. My impressions: Mamy Louise This was Installment #2 of Get Back to Eating Out in Brussels, and was at a restaurant I've actually been toying with the idea of going to for about seven years. You don't want to rush into things, you know. But frankly, after Installments #1 and #2, all I want to rush into is one of my favourite Paris restaurants. Starters: poached egg over mashed potatoes with tiny grey shrimp, and tuna tartare. The egg was actually quite good -- a new level of Belgian comfort food. The tuna itself was pretty bland, but far worse was the fact that it came literally BURIED under a pile of arugula and a blizzard of shaved Parmesan. Why on earth would you load on such pungent – and, with the Parmesan, out of place – flavours? Mains: braised lamb shank (nothing special, and the potatoes that were also in the little Le Creuset cocotte were somehow undercooked), and sole limande with roasted cherry tomatoes and broccoli. Suffice it to say that I had to send the fish back, as it was horrendously overcooked. When it came back, it was decently cooked -- it just had no flavour. Sigh. The cheese course was unimpressive (as was the waiter, who couldn't tell me what one of the cheeses was. Harrumph.). Le Fruit Defendu I’d walked past this little place literally hundreds of times, thinking each time, "Ooh, we should try this." But the first five times I tried to get a table, it was full each time. We finally succeeded in April 2008, and entered with high – perhaps too high – expectations. When all was said and done, the restaurant got high points for ambience (buzzy but not too crowded, open kitchen, sleek but not minimalist décor), the enthusiasm of the woman at the front of the house (believe she’s the chef’s wife) and the lighting (SO refreshing not to be grilled under fluorescent ceiling tubes!). The food was decent but not extraordinary – again, we’re talking Petit Pontoise dinner or perhaps even Mon Vieil Ami lunch prices. Am writing several months ex post and cannot remember (!) what G. had, but I had scallops with a parsnip truffle purée (good, but the scallops were tiny and undercooked) and then a sort of deep-sea fish available, it would seem, for only a few weeks a year. Bream? White and cod-like, and well-cooked, but with an obtrusively heavy herb crust. One stellar note: the vegetables – all perfectly cooked and very, very flavourful. The braised carrots with a faintly warm spicy note have become my at-home standard, after interrogation revealed the spice to be star anise. We drank a quite decent white Burgundy for around 28 €. The cuisine du marché changes biweekly, I believe. And I’d probably go again – but for an occasion that would need to be carefully equilibrated between “special enough to warrant the price” and “not so special I’d be cranky not to eat better.” Le Fourneau I will say right off the bat that I think it's expensive for what you get (I don't like leaving a place hungry, and as it was, we spent 100 EUR for two people with only a half bottle of wine - a relatively undistinguished Alsatian pinot blanc), and that there were several serious "what were they thinking?" moments -- but that said, several of the dishes ranged from "ooooh, yummy" to "this may be one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth," so I'm willing to cut them some slack. The menu is divided into Tapas, Tapas composées and Tapas aux poids -- the first being 1-2 bite plates, the second being slightly more substantial, and the third being more like a trimmed-down main (just a relatively small portion of the featured item itself, no sides -- but there are 5-6 sides you can order separately to round it out). We started with tapas: -- Papillote de langoustine avec ses trois sauces - Kind of like Middle Eastern tempura. A perfectly cooked and perfectly sweet langoustine wrapped in brik pastry and... I don't know. Deep fried? I don't think so. Perhaps just roasted? Didn't need any of its sauces, which were: basic boring soy sauce, basic boring tomato coulis and basic boring mayo with a dash of wasabi. -- Batonnets du thon poivre et sel, sauce wasabi - Minor misfire. Sashimi dusted with salt and pepper and drizzled with mayo with a dash of wasabi (how to make a dull idea oppressive through repetition). I personally didn't think the fish had any taste, and I just didn't get the mayo saucing. -- Bisque de langoustine - Yummy. Cream and shrimp stock and more cream and several chunks of barely cooked langoustine. Aaahhhh. Then moved to tapas composees: -- Pata negra en fines tranches, sauce moutarde - Major misfire. Not jambon iberico, but roasted pork loin, thinly sliced, sprinkled with mustard seeds and drizzled with -- you guessed it -- mayonnaise, this time cut with mustard. No better than anything I've ordered at a Safeway deli counter, quite frankly. VERY bitter to have paid 12 EUR for this. -- Salade liegeoise a notre facon et aux langoustines - Redemption. Nothing salade liegeiose about it if you ask me, but a gorgeous tangle of julienned and sauteed veg topped with more perfectly -- i.e., barely -- cooked langoustines. The sauce seemed vaguely Asian, but there was no overt element I could pin down (the saltiness may or may not have been soy sauce, the note of acidity may or may not have been rice vinegar or yuzu). Then to tapas aux poids: -- Paillarde de veau, huile d'olive et citron - D*mn, this was good. Succulent veal scallops, just drizzled with a lemony pan sauce and a chiffonade of basil, The quality of the meat and its perfect cooking made the dish. -- Demi poussin comme on l'aime - D*mn, this was good. And this is coming from someone who does NOT like little birdy things. I may have to rethink. Again, perfectly simple. and perfectly cooked. Roasted with herbs and served with the barest bit of pan sauce and a finger bowl for rinsing after gnawing at the bones. -- With a side of puree de pommes de terre a la Robuchon - A la Robuchon indeed. Take 1 kilo of potatoes, boil, pass through a ricer, and combine with 4 kilos of butter and 12 quarts of cream. Enough said. A mitigated success, then, but for Brussels - fabulous (to keep my sanity, I try not to think about the fact that we'd spend the same amount of money at Mon Vieil Ami in Paris and weep unmitigated tears of joy). I'll definitely go back, but I'll order carefully.

I can't wait for the next installment! I'm already making notes for our trip to Belgium next May. I'm counting on you for recent updates! ←

I'm sure most of what I'll have to say after a quick week in Denver won't be news to its foodie denizens, but maybe it can serve as a minor update on some well-known places -- a mix of lowbrow and highbrow, as it were. Keep in mind that my delight in the lowbrow stuff should be filtered through the fact that I only get this stuff once every few years... Tamayo As expected, a creditable rendition of upscale Mexican. The terrace was a fine place to eat on a gorgeous evening, and the food was tasty -- though I'm not sure what the fuss is all about with their guacamole. Edible, but in no way spectacular. Same thing for the margaritas -- drinkable, but with a rough edge to them. They were out of the pipian de puerco, so I had salmon Acapulqueno (pan roasted, with citrus-fennel salad and a habenero-passion fruit sauce). Tasty, but a trifle over-cooked and one-dimensional. My fellow diners fared better -- their cordero Colorado (grilled lamb sirloin) and tampiquena (butterflied filet mignon with a poblano chile-potato gratin) were truly yummy. Tamayo won't replace Frontera Grill in my affections any time soon, but it wasn't bad. The Egg and I I got dragged here for breakfast not once but twice. I don't know if it's a local (Highlands Ranch) favorite, or if it's just another strip mall creation (what isn't, I sometimes wondered), but it was packed to the gills both times for reasons I cannot comprehend. Pancakes were serviceable, but the huevos rancheros were rather nasty. Thai Basil My parents wanted something basic and Asian, near their hotel, and that's what we got. Adjacent to Park Meadows Mall, this place is noteworthy primarily for the friendliness of its service and its fetching wood-and-silk-clad booths. Americanized Thai/Vietnamese dishes -- goi cuon were surprisingly good, as were red curry beef, a sizzling shrimp and scallop dish and a spicy garlic chicken stirfry, but my sauteed eggplant tasted disconcertingly like mint air freshener. Rioja What can I say? If I lived in Denver, I'd eat here weekly. I'd been looking forward to coming back here since my first visit over two years ago, and it was wonderful again. This time we started with yuzu margaritas at the bar while waiting for a terrace table, and couldn't help splitting the fresh bacon starter. The pig is truly a magical creature, is it not? When we got to the table, I took full advantage of their wine by the half-glass options. Had a second starter of candied lemon gnocchi with butter-poached crab with a half glass of California Riesling (Wente, 2006 - not bad, but not the match I'd hoped for) and a half glass of Chilean Chardonnay (Trapiche Broquel, 2005 - perfect!). G. had saffron fettucine with pork meatballs with a glass of very nice Oregon Pinot Noir (Piedra Roja, 2006 - had never heard of it, but it worked well). Then moved on to spice-rubbed lamb tenderloin and a glass of Australian Shiraz for G. and a flatiron steak with bone-marrow and Manchego risotto for me, with a half glass of Zinfandel (Seghesio, 2006 - impressed by the tannic structure, fruity but not a fruit bomb) and a half glass of *excellent* CA Cabernet (Robert Hall, 2005 - we tracked down a couple of bottles at a liquor store and brought them back with us). Then a tasting of blue cheeses for G. and sheep's cheeses for me; the cheeses were weaker than I remember them being before, but everything else was spot on. God, I love this place. Hickory House (Aspen) Enter the lowbrow aspect. Went up to Aspen because I'd never been, and ate here twice -- fabulous pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and the world's largest and fluffiest pancakes for breakfast the next morning. Bliss. Tacos de Mexico Was jonesing for hole-in-the-wall Mexican, so stopped by this place in the Santa Fe district (wanted to go to Tacos D.F., but it was the weekend and therefore closed). Went for a taco plate with asada, carnitas and pastor -- the last two were the best. Tortillas were excellent, but the tacos could have benefited from a jolt of cilantro and salsa verde. Horchata was appropriately gritty and cinnamony. Morton's May I never pay this much money for a gussied-up steak ever again. I don't understand steak houses, really; how can you charge 12 USD for sauteed spinach? I was happy to get my American beef fix, but still. Started with bacon-wrapped scallops and crabcakes -- both okay but not stellar, and moved on to the meat event. Prime rib for two guests (it appeared to have been carved from a brontosaurus), and Chicago ribeyes for us, accompanied by the aforementioned spinach and admittedly yummy garlic mashed potatoes. I was particularly pleased by the August Briggs Zinfandel (I think it was a 2004), but I never want to pay 80 USD for a Zin again (and that was one of the cheapest bottles on the list!). All in all, well pleased with the trip -- and looking forward to trying Fruition and Tacos DF, and going back to Rioja, when we're back for a wedding in November.

So -- having lived in Brussels for 9 years, I know much more about the restaurant scenes in Paris and London. But inspired by this board, I've decided to re-invest (literally!) in my own city; I've compiled a list of to-try places and kicked off the campaign last night at De la Vigne...a l'Assiette. In the interest of sharing thoughts and impressions: The restaurant suffers from what's always seemed to me to be a peculiarly Belgian affliction of horrid lighting – bright, exposed, interrogation-chamberesque – but it smelled good when we arrived, and the plates passing by the table were lovely. Started with a glass of decent Champagne while perusing the menu and wine list (which was truly interesting and well-priced, but limited in its half-bottle selections). Starters: terrine de foie de canard sous presse au jambon San Daniele and, in a moment of complete and utter madness, désossé de pieds de porc au foie gras de canard gratiné à la moutarde. The terrine was flavourful, with a flamboyant dash of balsamic reduction and a nice little heap of baby greens, daikon radish, carrots, edamame and bean sprouts, though they were a bit stingy with the brioche. The trotter...evoked every regurgitative instinct I possess. But I blame my texturally-ambivalent-on-a-good-day constitution, not the trotter. I plowed through half of it, careful not to chew before swallowing, before handing it over to G. He didn’t mind it, but I didn’t even find the flavour particularly compelling. Mains: filet de bar grille, vinaigrette de tomates aux herbes et sabayon à l’huile d’olives and filet de barbue rôti au thym frais, salsifis braisés au beurre salé. Both fish were, I grant, perfectly cooked. But there was too much going on with the bar – the tomato vinaigrette (lovely and basily) ended up competing with the equally tasty and unctuous sabayon. My fish suffered from the opposite problem, with a monotonic salty butteriness enveloping everything on the plate. Very nice for the first half-dozen bites, but a bit cloying after that. We drank a respectable Menetou-Salon, whose candied citrus nose reminded me of an Alsatian pinot blanc (but which didn’t have the same body or mouthfeel). Finished with a marquise de chocolat for G. and the cheese plate for me. The cheeses (chèvre, Camembert au Calvados, tome de montagne, Comté, Epoisses and Roquefort) were unimpressive. Worse, they were cold. Worse, I had to ask for a glass of wine to drink with them. Worst – the wine, an Argentine sauvignon-semillon, had less personality than the sommelier, who himself practically blended into the walls. I wouldn’t go back – I can think of better ways to spend 120 EUR. Next on the list: hesitating between Re-Source, Le Fourneau, Mamy Louise, Resto.bar, and Le Fruit Defendu. Will permit myself to keep you posted...

My first eGullet post! I'm very excited, and looking forward to all kinds of "Southwest" wisdom... I am being dragged to Denver for a week in late May for my partner's daughter's high school graduation. My partner, being a clever sort of fellow, has promised to make it worth my while, culinarily speaking. I'm looking to pack in a few good meals of the types of cuisine I can't get here at home in Brussels -- and have trawled the boards plus the Westword column in the Denver paper and come up with the following: --Vietnamese New Saigon Kim Ba --BBQ Big Hoss Bar-B-Q Yazoo Barbeque Company --Mexican Taqueria Patzcuaro Tacos D.F. Tacos y Salsas (These all seem to be good old hole in the walls -- is there something like a Frontera Grill, i.e., careful takes on authentic regional Mexican?) --Italian Luca d'Italia Osteria Marco Any comments, critiques, red flags, alternative suggestions? We'll also being doing lunch or dinner at Rioja, because I had a lovely meal there the only other time I've been to Denver, and Sushi Den, because it's my partner's favorite sushi place and good sushi in Brussels is scarcer than hen's teeth. (I'm not inclined to go to Fruition, because I figure that kind of seasonal, refined gastro-bistro cooking is something I can and do get regularly in Paris...but if I'm wrong, I can be convinced otherwise.) Thanks in advance!